I am the deputy editor of investing content for Forbes Media. I'm responsible for money and investing coverage on Forbes.com and in Forbes magazine. As editor of the Forbes Dividend Investor newsletter service, I send out two dividend stock recommendations per week and send out weekly updates with the best 25 current buys. I'm also a Senior Editor for Forbes Newsletter Group, including its virtual events business, Forbes iConferences. Prior to joining the company, I spent five years with CNN Financial News working with Lou Dobbs, where I produced long-form pieces and reported on management, entrepreneurship and financial markets. I've also worked for Bloomberg TV and Inc. Magazine.

Gold And Silver On Fire As Fed Keeps Q.E. On Cruise Control

After a two-day meeting, the release of the Federal Open Market Committee’s statement at 2:00 on Wednesday unleashed a frenzy of buying in stock markets all over the world. The Fed bullishly surprised the market with its decision to maintain the current pace of buying $40 billion of agency mortgage-backed securities and $45 billion in longer-term U.S. Treasury securities per month.

The Fed keeping the petal to the metal in this latest round of asset purchases promises to keep interest rates lower, for now. They tumbled today, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note plunging to 2.71% after the announcement from 2.90% earlier in the day.

The no-taper news added a quick 100 points to the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the rally was especially feverish in the emerging markets, and in anything commodity-related: steel, coal and especially metals. Gold is up 4.4% from today’s $1,300 low, thanks to the Fed’s statement. Gold tends to move higher when real interest rates (nominal rates minus inflation) are going lower, and that’s what happened today. Check out the spike in gold at 2:00 p.m.

Silver, gold’s more rambunctious cousin, shot 8.7% higher from its intraday low to trade above $23 per ounce. The iShares Silver Trust (SLV), which tracks the metal, was up 6.44% on the day. The SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) gained 4.47%.

The Silver miners are riding high. Up nearly 10% on the day are Vancouver-based Pan American Silver (PAAS), which sports a beefy 4.5% dividend yield, and Silver WheatonSilver Wheaton (SLW), which yields 1.6%. Silvercorp MetalsSilvercorp Metals (SVM) is up almost 15%, and Silver Standard Resources, also based in Vancouver, B.C., is nearly 13% higher.

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